I installed a trolling motor set-up on my PA12 a while back. Thinking about everything that can go wrong on the water, I am trying to determine what to do with the trolling motor battery if I were to turtle the yak. My first thought is, I don't want to strap down the battery, which I place on the open area behind my Vantage seat. If I did strap the battery and turtled, I envision the strapped battery would make it very difficult, if not impossible, to turn the yak back over. So, the other option is to let the battery sit free, and if I turtle, the battery would sink to the bottom.

So, my question is, has anyone thought of this situation? I was thinking about connecting X amount of cordage to the battery, with a piece of noodle float at the top of the rope. So, if the battery falls to the bottom, the cordage would float to the top and I could pull the battery up.

I don't think you want anything this heavy banging around your kayak if you were to turtle. What if that thing hit you in the head during this mishap? Or, getting your legs tangled up in the cord/lease. You want it to take you to the bottom?

I would secure the battery to the kayak so that it would remain in place. With the battery so low to the water level, it shouldn't have that much effect on turning your kayak back over.

You are going to have cables running to your trolling motor which will probably be heavy enough to keep the battery attached to the kayak unless you have break-away connections. I would definitely secure the battery in place,especially if it is big enough to power a trolling motor. It will definitely be easier to right that way.

Secured in the front container. It is only 12 pounds, since it is lithium ion. I would not have anything as big as a group size 24 lead acid battery unrestrained. What if you start to tip. All of a sudden an additional fifty pounds slides to the side that is already threatening to toss you in the water.

What name/model lithium ion battery do you have? How does it compare in terms of battery life to a lead acid battery?

The battery is 40 amp hours at 12 volts. A group size 24 is usually about 40 amp hours. The Lithium battery can be used until the protection module turns it off. Basically the whole 40 amp hours. If you want a lead acid battery to last through 500 recharges or so, then you should not use more than half of the capacity, or 20 amp hours.

Here is a link to the source for the battery and it is the page that lists all the capacities available. If I had it to do over, I would get the 60 amp hour battery with the digital condition gauge. So far I have traveled about 3 nautical miles on the battery with voltage never going below 12.1 volts while the motor is running. I have not gone further because the currents where we are camped are pretty strong. 2 to 3 knots and it is hard going against that especially with the wind blowing 20 knots too. Sometimes aiding but many times just another impediment to forward progress. Plus the system is relatively new and I want to get a real good feel for reliability and durability of the system before attempting a full discharge of the battery. I have already found some high resistances in the switches that controlled forward and reverse and the two speeds. They have been replaced and it made a big difference in motor performance.

I thought of the same thing. So here is my cure. Installed foam on the bottom of the hull to protected out from the weight of the battery. Installed a battery tray with 2 stainless steel straps bolted to the upper lip of the hatch. When the battery is installed, its kepted in place by a nylon strap with a quick release clip. I've turtled numerous times when out on the surf and experienced no malfunctions so far. The trolling motor would still be running upside down. Here is link that I created